PMD: Explorers of Destruction
by IllusionWriter
Summary: One stormy night, in search of a vital artifact capable of the world's doom, a trainer by the name of Arno and his companion are attacked by a mysterious Pokemon, somehow warping him into the world of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, his memory wiped clean. Arno, along with upcoming allies, must stop the evil plans of enemies yet to be known and prevent both worlds from ceasing to exist.
1. Chapter 1: A New Discovery!

~PMD: Explorers of Destruction~

Chapter 1: A New Discovery

The city lights glowed in the nighttime sky, and ominous clouds and baleful clouds were rolling in from the near distance. On ground level below the heavens, multitudes of people roared through the busy streets of the massive city, also known as Castelia City. In the huge moving crowd of people of all kinds, great and small, it would seem impossible for one to find someone even of specific qualities unless they got lucky. However, none of this mattered, as two mysterious individuals still resided in the midst of this humongous crowd.

As they broke from the congregation of people, some with their Pokémon companions by their sides, they gazed out into the nearby sea. "It looks like a storm's approaching…we'll need to get to that ferry as quickly as possible." The figure on the left said to his companion. The streetlights above them radiated them with the absence of darkness, revealing their identities. The one who just spoke was a teenager, at least 17 years of age. He wore a Fedora and had a red scarf tied around his neck in his attempt to keep warm from the frigid effects of the winter.

His companion was a rather rare one at best; its claws were red and gleaming into the city's array of lights, which were from sources all around them. It had eyes the color of an immersive, gleaming teal and a long ponytail of hair with a sapphire bead holding it all together at the near end. It's fur, save for its chest and body, was the color of a deep red, almost as if it were dyed with paint…

The two continued to stare out into the abyss, and only seconds after, the teen straightened his hat and turned to the red-clawed creature and nodded his head. "Were off." The teen said, and he began to walk away from the railing that separated them from the threatening sea. "Zor-zor…" the creature responded and followed closely behind. The two moved in silence, and kept to the sides and away from the crowds to avoid the potential of being slowed down. Then something platted against the teen's hand, immediately gaining his attention, "ahh, great…it's beginning to rain." He turned around and notified his companion. 'Come on, Dusk, we need to run or we'll never make it there dry." His partner nodded in complete agreement as they both broke into a dash.

The world around them both looked more like a huge rush of blurriness as they ran through the streets of the more than big city. Their destination: the Castelia City harbor. After more than four minutes of non-stop running, they finally stopped in front of the harbor itself. Exhausted from the sudden change in pace, the teenager bent forward and rested his hands on his knees, trying to take in the air through his lungs. However, the red-clawed Pokémon was physically unwavered. It just looked at its partner, trainer if you will, and gave an audible sigh. The fedora-wearing teen, who was still recovering, rose from his tired position and looked at his Pokémon.

"Well, it's not like I'm a Zoroark just like you!" he shouted in a humorous tone. His Zoroark just closed her eyes and smirked. But then his Zoroark opened her eyes again – this time trained on something behind him. The trainer noticed her train of vision change, and just then he heard a familiar voice call his name from behind. "Hey, Arno…is that you?" the voice asked. All the trainer could do was turn around before he finally recognized the person calling him. "Professor Juniper!" he replied back, quite surprised by her sudden appearance. The trainer walked up to the Professor with his fox Pokémon right behind him.

"Arno...it's been a long time." Professor Juniper said, her eyes closing as if she was contemplating something of the past. "Yeah, it has been, hasn't it?" Arno replied back, scratching the back of his head in realization. Juniper's gaze then shifted to Arno's Zoroark, who he named Dusk. "Well now," Juniper started. She walked up to the Zoroark and looked at her from head to toe. She then backed up and looked her right into the eyes. "It looks like you've finally evolved Zorua." She said, turning back to Arno, who in return replied, "Yeah, it took a while, though. We didn't really get along very well in the beginning!" Arno laughed, causing the Zoroark to close her eyes in reflection.

"Well, she WAS your first Pokémon after all." Professor Juniper added. "I remember when you first arrived at my lab a little too late, and I had to lend you one of my assistants to aid you in finding one yourself in the wild. "Wild" guess what you ran into next!" Juniper quipped, taking the still-vivid events that took place afterwards. Arno could only close his eyes and lower his head, sighing in the process. "You came in with your newly caught Zorua and you shouted to the high heavens, "Yes!", let her loose, and she leapt right at you and used Tackle!" Professor Juniper's recalling on that particular part nearly caused her to fall over in humorous tears. Arno's head only sunk further to the ground in embarrassment.

After a moment, Professor Juniper managed to compose herself, and continued. "After a long while, I observed improvement. It was a hard journey for you and your Pokémon, but you managed to pull through in the end." She finished. Arno looked over to his Zoroark and grinned. "Yep, where practically inseparable now." he said with zest, bringing out his arm forwards toward Dusk, his fist balled into a fist. His Zoroark did the same, giving each other a fist bump.

Professor Juniper couldn't help but sport another smile as the two brofisted. She then snapped back to attention the main reason why she came looking for him. "Oh, I almost forgot..." she says suddenly. She reached inside of her purse that she had strapped around her shoulder. Arno and Dusk could only wonder what she was searching for exactly. After a good few seconds, she had finally found what she was looking for. "Aahaah!" she exclaimed as the Professor pulled out the object of focus; a sapphire blue orb, no bigger than a simple, un-activated Pokéball. The orb that resided in hers hands reflected brightly in the midst of the city lights that surrounded them. Arno's eyes widened at the sight of the artifact that was in her hands. Dusk's eyes narrowed slightly, quickly identifying what was in the palm of the Professor's hands.

"T-the Temporial Orb…h-how did you-"Arno started to question, not able to finish his sentence due to Juniper doing it for him. "-Find this orb? You'd be amazed at what Team Plasma had in their files. They had blueprints, maps, all that good stuff. But more importantly…" Professor Juniper reached into her pocket and pulled out a worn-looking map. "They had this."

She handed the map to Arno, and both he and his Zoroark began to analyze it as best as they could. It was a map of some sort of foreign land, a land in which they all had never seen before. Then, he noticed the legend of the map. "Flourishing Cave…The Virulent Empire…Tower of Justice…" Arno read out, trying to decipher the rest of the names of what seemed to be locations on the map. Sadly, most of the map had been worn out, making reading or figuring out any other information virtually impossible.

"The rest is practically undecipherable." Arno said to no one in particular. Professor Juniper came closer towards the two. "That's not all. I found the Temporial Orb along with the map." Juniper stated, tossing the artifact up slightly into the air before catching it. "It was located inside of a secret, unexplored room inside one of Team Plasma's secret hideouts while we were there exploring for any more vital information on their agenda. We can successfully say that we did now." the Professor proclaimed, giving Arno the gleaming orb. The orb's natural color could easily be called out as the same as Dusk's bead that kept her long, furry hair together.

"I want you to have it, Arno." The professor said, "I know you'll need it, especially since this is a part of the whole reason you're leaving on the ferry, correct?" Arno remained silent, still staring at the sphere- shaped artifact. He then looked up at his mentor, and longtime friend-in research. "You know about my search for these things?" Arno asked the Professor, a slight look of surprise on his face. "Why of course I do. Professor Rowan told me all about your discovery on how these artifacts being thousands of years old, and you wanting to discover the real meaning and purpose behind them. He also inferred that there is actually more than one of them."

Arno sighed one again, and looked at Dusk, who just looked back at him and shrugged. "I guess I really can't hide anything from you, Professor." Arno admitted, giving her a joking look. Professor Juniper just crossed her arms. "Not that I wanted to!" he quickly interjected. She simply smiled and unfolded them.

Just then, something dark flew past them, nut it felt more like it passed straight through him than anything else. Arno felt his body go limp just for a second, but Dusk caught him before he could stumble to the ground. "Goodness! Are you alright?" Juniper asked worriedly as she helped bring him back on his feet. However, his eyes were closed shut. Slowly, Arno reopened his eyes, but instead of seeing his mentor and companion, he saw only complete and utter darkness. Suddenly, out of this darkness arose some sort of shadowy figure. "W-what's g-going on?" Arno asked weakly, stumbling in his words. No one replied. Then the shadowy figure grew closer, Arno was terrified at what he saw. Its body became even clearer in structure, revealing that it was floating and it had only one eye, which glowed a brilliant sapphire, the only source of true light wherever he was. It quickly reminded him of the Temporial Orb.

"Where is it? I know you have it boy!"

`Arno was trying to comprehend what exactly was happening. "What are you talking about? Arno choked out, nearly losing his composure. 'You know exactly what I'm talking about. The Orb, where is it!?" the shadowy creature screeched impatiently. "I-I don't…" Arno stuttered out loud. He was too confused and scared to fully explain anything. The dark figure stood quietly in front of him, before finally speaking again. "Fine then…" it spoke in a cold, bitter voice. "If you won't talk, then I'll just make you!" It said as it reached it' hands towards Arno's head.

"No…n-n-n-no...NOOO!"

Arno's eyes shot open at once, and quickly arose from the bed. "Wait, bed?" he thought as he finally caught on to reality. He was in some sort of facility as far as he could tell. Just then, down the hallway outside of his room, he heard a pair of voices, one he couldn't quite place. "Don't worry, he'll be fine-should be up within a few more…" As the voice was about to finish, the owner had just opened the door to his room. As it opened up, a lady with a pink hat, along with the attire of a nurse was revealed, and soon after her, a very well-known face.

"Pr-Professor? What's… going on? Arno asked her weakly, his body still a bit feeble to any response of moving. Professor Juniper left the nurse's side and approached Arno, stopping at the side of his bed. "You passed out on us while we were conversating outside. Your Zoroark caught you before you could fall to the ground, but you still remained unconscious." Her face then changed to one of confusion. "While you were, you started mumbling and screaming things like "no' and 'what do you want'. I was really worried."

Professor Juniper gave a deep sigh and closed her eyes, reopening them a few seconds later. "Then we carried you here…" Arno was at a loss for words. He remembered vividly of what happened to him, and he would never forget. Silence enveloped the room for the second time before Arno raised another question. "Where's Dusk?" The Nurse Joy suddenly alerted to her duty as he asked. "You mean the Zoroark? Oh, don't worry. He's resting in his Pokéball in the healing chamber. You can retrieve him anytime you'd like…but for now-"

As if on cue to cut Nurse Joy off, a sudden beeping sound emitted from inside the room, echoing off the walls. Everyone seemed confused for a second before realizing where the source of the noise originated from. Arno quickly darted his eyes downwards to his Pokétech (which he still favored from his previous journey through the Sinnoh region) and realized that the watch app alarm had gone off. A sudden spark of remembrance shot through his brain as he realized the purpose of the notification.

"Oh crap, the ferry!"

Arno swiftly rose out of the bed, his body still coping with the change in position. "W-what are you doing? The Nurse asked, still greatly concerned about his current state. "I'm going to be late for the ferry! It's about to leave!" Arno stated hurriedly as he stumbled for his hat and bag. As he put on his backpack, he turned around and faced Professor Juniper. "Thank you." Nurse Joy took a step forward as Arno ran for the door, and opened it, but suddenly felt a hand on her right shoulder. Professor Juniper approached her from the side, now standing next to her. 'He'll be just fine, trust me.' She said, not taking her eyes off the door.

Arno dashed for the healing chamber, which contained his fellow Zoroark's Pokéball. It was then when he realized that he was inside of a Pokémon Center. As he headed for the Pokémon Center's entrance doors, he heard a voice call from behind him. "Wait, you forgot this!" Arno turned around just in the nick of time to catch the vital artifact which he had nearly left behind. "Of course, the Temporial orb!" Arno said, face palming himself. 'Thank you, Professor Juniper!" he said aloud as he turned back around and ran to the automatic doors.

"Good luck!" the Professor shouted. "And remember to update me on your research!" Arno gave her a thumbs up as he bolted out the Pokémon Center and back on the streets of the busy city, Pokéball in hand.


	2. Chapter 2: Leaving To Rough Seas

Chapter 2: Leaving To Rough Seas

He ran as fast as he possibly could, the large gap between him and the harbor growing smaller with every second that passed. The last people were just boarding the decent-looking ship and his time was running out.

With his ticket in one hand and pokéball in the other, he had hatched a plan, but he knew he only had one shot at it. Without any further thought, he threw his pokéball forwards into the air, a light shooting out of it and forming the shape of a humanoid fox. "Come on out, Dusk!"

Its feet hit the ground, and his Zoroark was revealed. As soon as Dusk made contact with the ground, she had already caught up with his faithful companion. "Zor!" She cried, awaiting her next command. Arno turned towards her as they continued to run and told her the purposed plan.

"Dusk, I need you to boost me as hard as you can towards the boat once we give the ticket to the sailor, Okay? Once that's done, you'll still be able to make the jump too, no doubt with your kind of strength and all." Dusk nodded in agreement, slightly encouraged by his acknowledgement of her abilities.

As they approached the dock of the harbor, the sailor standing duty their noticed them approaching and stood in front of the gate that led to the now-leaving ferry. Fully aware of the obstacle in front of them, Arno jumped onto a nearby dock pole and skipped past the sailor, his Zoroark following suit.

"HEY, stop you-"

Before the sailor could finish his warning, a blue ticket floated down onto the floor in front of him. As he picked it up, he looked back towards the two racing figures with only one thing uttered from his mouth.

"Huh."

Arno and Dusk were on their last strips of solid wood, their feet crashing against the wood beneath them. "We can do this, Dusk! You ready?" he said, still eyeing the withdrawing ferry. Dusk nodded, readying for the final part of his plan. "Ok, now!" Arno shouted as he came dangerously closer to the end of the dock. With his command said, Dusk did not hesitate as she grabbed Arno's arm and slung him towards the ferry boat. The wind rushed past him harshly, making it hard for him to keep his eyes open for the time he really needed them.

He was now heading downwards right for the back of the huge passage boat...and eventually, the ground. "Oh, no-oh cra-ouff!" he exclaimed, having hit the deck floor. Arno groaned as he rubbed the back of his head, his Zoroark landing gracefully beside him as if to taunt his less than fruitful execution of this part of the plan. This unusual occurrence obviously drew the attention of everyone nearby on board. "Always taking the spotlight, aren't ya?" Arno joked, still wincing from the painful landing. "Zoroark!" Dusk proudly proclaimed whilst tilting her head towards the sky with a smirk plastered on her face.

Everyone around them was still in shock of their dangerous route to getting onto the boat. "How's it going?" Arno said to them as his Zoroark pulled him up to his feet. The two casually walked (or rather for Arno, limped) away, most of the nearby passengers still eyeing them as they left. After finding a nearby bench, they both sat down and relaxed.

Just then, Arno was mentally reminded of the artifact- the real reason they were here in the first place. He curiously took the Temporial orb and once again observed it. It seemed even more lustrous than ever before. On each side of it, a symbol was professionally engraved into the sides of it. "It looks like a gear of some sort…" Arno whispered to himself.

Almost immediately, he reached back inside of his bag, pulling out a similar object. "And this one has a sword engraved onto it…" Dusk stared at the two orbs as if it had her in some sort of trance. However, she quickly snapped out of it as Arno put both orbs back inside of his traveling bag and turned towards her. "Remember when we first met? Arno asked, waiting intently for her to reply. What he got was a nod. Arno looked back at his bag. "After we bonded, you guided me to this to this area…I forget the name…but it was in that place where we found the first orb. You don't happen to know the location of anymore, do you?" Arno asked, taking his eyes off of the bag and focusing them on the Zoroark.

"Zoro…" Dusk replied giving him a shrug and a slight disappointing expression. "It's okay Dusk…just curious." He assured her, stroking her soft, furry head, causing her to purr. With a sigh, Arno rose to his feet and turned to his partner. "We'll after all of this craziness, I'm sure feeling starved. How about we grab something to eat?" he suggested, pointing a finger to what looked to be a café room. "Zor." Dusk replied as they approached the door and headed inside.

Arno pulled the door to the lunchroom open and entered, closing the door behind Dusk. As he turned from the door, he turned around and gasped at the beautiful sight in front of him that he now took note of. "Oh,..my…" In front of him was a fairly large and sumptuous-looking buffet, lights dramatically flaring up the name of its business. Arno stood their drooling in absolute hunger, all the while his Zoroark stood next to him, obviously annoyed by his current state.

"Zoroark!" Dusk roared, immediately snapping him out of his "hunger –induced" display. "S-sorry, Dusk." Arno apologized. After about ten minutes, they were rendered quite full and were ready to leave the café. As Arno pulled the door open to exit, he heard his Zoroark begin to growl. Arno, still turned away from Dusk, and facing the door, sighed. "Look Dusk, if you wanted seconds, you should've told-" Arno immediately stopped at his attempts to humor her when he realized what she was really snarling at.

As the locked his sights in the same area Dusk's were, he noticed another presence there with them. Near the other end of the room where it was nearly pitch-black, he saw a glowing bright, blue light eye illuminate the unlighted space around it. "You see it too?" Arno asked Dusk. She simply nodded, refusing to take her eyes off of the shadowy figure. Suddenly, not a second passed afterwards before it disappeared. "What?" Arno said, running up to their spot where it once was. He stood there for a moment, still trying to piece together what he saw exactly. "I must be hallucinating or something…but I couldn't have, Dusk saw it too…it looked just like that thing in my dreams…" Arno thought deeply to himself.

Before he could even take notice, his Zoroark zipped past him and through the door beside him. "Hey, wait! Wait for me now!" Arno shouted, following suit and struggling to catch up. The chef at the café bar noticed their commotion and simply shook his head. "Strange pair, those two." He muttered as he turned back to his business.

Dusk dashed after the shadow, determined to catch it no matter the cost. Arno, having finally caught up to her, tried desperately to catch his breath as he spoke. 'Dusk, why are you always trying to make me pass out?" he asked almost rhetorically, knowing his questioned would never come to be answered. The only reply he got was another growl from the clawed fox as she ran after its seemingly invisible target once more. "Of course…" Arno said unsurprisingly as he began after his partner a second time.

Almost right after his attempt at trying to keep on the Zoroark's trail, he ran straight into a crowd of conversating people. 'Well, perfect." He muttered quietly to himself. As he tried to make his way past the gathering, thunder clasped across the sky, lightning coming way before it. He had almost forgotten about the approaching storm that had threatened to start immediately after they left on the ferry boat. It had felt almost as if reality had slapped him in the face.

The boat was rocking quite violently as the salty waves rushed at the sides and crashed into them. The rain dribbled against his skin as he tried to move further through the now complaining crowd. Eventually emerging victoriously through his first obstacle, he now had a new one to accomplish- to find his Zoroark. "It's not that big of a boat, this shouldn't be too hard." Arno reassured himself as he walked forward, almost reaching the front of the large boat. As he turned the corner, he nearly slipped due to the wet conditions.

When he recovered, he had finally found Dusk, only, she was not alone. On the opposite side of the rain-drenched Zoroark was the creature he was chasing. Its bodily structure was momentarily revealed when lightning flickered across the sky, a crackling thunder following suit. Its body was apparently made completely of shadows and its eye store back at the Zoroark with its same icy glare.

In a language unbeknownst to his trainer, the Zoroark and the shadowy creature began to talk. "Well, look who it is…the "mighty" Zoroark herself!" In response, Dusk said nothing-just an angry expression stuck on her face. "Too afraid to say anything, is that it? Or are you just still angry at me for what I did to your dear trainer back in the city." the dark creature gibed in a laughing tone, crossing its arms as if to taunt her.

"…I know why you're here…you're after the Temporial orbs aren't you?" Dusk said, finally breaking her silence. Unfolding its arms, he closed his eyes, sarcastically acting surprised. "Oh, my! How did you know? I'd never thought you would be able to figure that out!" The Zoroark then moved into its offensive pose. "I wouldn't taunt me if I were you." Dusk told the creature, an icy tone slithering with every word to match the creature's chilling presence.

The dark figure sighed in response, inching a little closer to the Zoroark and its trainer. "Just give them to me, and I'll leave your little trainer over their alone…and in one piece." It offered almost humorously. This caused the Zoroark to snap. "Why you!" Dusk yelled as its claws began to glow a bright, flaming red and she began to dash at her prey. "And this will be your last mistake…" the dark creature said to himself as he formed a dark vortex in his hands, it's opening becoming larger in size.

"Say goodbye to your precious friend, mutt!" it said as it launched the light-absent attack at her trainer. Noticing its change of targets, Dusk ran back to her trainer at an attempt to protect him. "Noo!" the Zoroark screamed as she jumped in front of Arno, hoping to take the attack's impact.

Arno could barely react as a great darkness shoved him and his partner into an everlasting darkness. And the last thing he heard was the cry of his Zoroark, desperately trying to reach him.

Then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3: My Pendant Necklace!

Hey guys! If this is the first time hearing from me, than I just wanted to say that I'm grateful to have you guys interested in reading this! SOOO sorry for the late posting of this chapter, I've been pretty busy these past two weeks. I really need my own laptop. (Writes this on Christmas list)

Also, just in case you're wondering, I got the Arno's name from the main character on Assassin's Creed: Unity. I got kind of picky with which name I wanted to call him, so there ya go!

Without further ado, I introduce Chapter 3!

Chapter 3: Alternative World, and a fiery Altercation!

Through darkness, Arno went, subconsciously praying that the endless array of dark space would eventually subside. Unbeknownst to him though, his prayers were answered. A small, black dimensional hole was torn as an opening in the sky and out of it came Arno. Now falling at free-fall speed, the unconscious Arno began to awaken.

The first thing he noticed was the dimensional hole closing, now shrinking into nothingness. The second thing he noticed was that he was descending straight towards the ground! "Oh, this is SOO not good!" Arno screamed, the rushing air that oppressed against him doing nothing to slow him down. As he flailed around through the air, he spotted a huge forest to his left, causing his eyes to open wide. He had an idea, a risky one at that.

"Maybe if I land in the forest, I'll give myself a better chance at survival…" Arno thought, twisting himself straight forward to the ground again. "Maybe if I land in one of those trees…" he whispered to himself, although with all the wind, he couldn't even hear himself think let alone whisper. (If that makes any sense)

With the forest growing closer with every second, he readied himself to hit any tree with enough leaves to (hopefully) break his speeding decent. The trees were now just within his personal space as he brung his arms up to his face to brace for the impact. That was when he noticed something very strange. In front of him was two short, grayish-green colored arms with no human hands to be found.

"Wait, wha-ouff!" Arno never got to finish his words of confusion as he collided with the leafy branches of the massive trees around him. Down he went, hitting more tree branches along the way, and eventually finding himself lying on his back on the forest floor.

He struggled to keep his eyes open, but eventually, unconsciousness overtook his vision.

~Meanwhile~

The town which resided next to the forest was a live one at best, with Pokémon of all sorts seeking residence in it. Some were just getting settled inside of the abiding town. Amongst the busy and active Pokémon, there was one in particular; a Fennekin to be exact. "Mum, when's the fair going to start? I just can't wait to see how you will do your job!" the fire fox asked excitedly, her eyes staring back at her mother's, intently waiting on the answer that would come just soon after. Her mother, a Delphox by the name of Mystic, simply put the rest of her papers down on the stand beside her before answering the question.

"Patience, my dear. Remember. We've only moved into this town just about a week ago. Once I get a confirmation on my appliance for the job, then I'll see to it that you know every detail on the ins and outs about it, okay?" Mystic replied in a very assuring tone of voice. The Delphox's attention was then drawn to the small crowd of younger Pokémon standing around a foxlike creature with ruby-colored eyes and a total of nine tails.

"Hey. Look over there. It looks like that Pokémon is telling a story. If I know you as well as I think I do, you just adore stories. Why don't you go check it out while I finish up here?" the Delphox insisted, just finishing sorting her third pile of work papers. The Fennekin's eyes motioned towards the tiny gathering only a good few feet away, which immediately triggered the more brittle side of her personality. "Well, I don't know…I mean I don't really know any of those Pokémon…" she said to Mystic, her voice, unbeknownst to her, rimmed with doubt.

Mystic, easily noticing her intimidation, began to urge her forward in a verbal manner. "Oh, don't worry about that. This is exactly how you meet new Pokémon, and even make new friends in the process! But first, you must open yourself to these things, my dear child…you must be brave." the Delphox told her, love and honesty whistling through each and every one of her spoken words.

Only a few good seconds passed by before the little Fennekin's mind completely took in her mother's words. She then looked up to Mystic, staring her straight into her eyes once more, this time with even more zest than before. "O...okay, I will." She agreed as she turned and began to dash towards the crowd, turning around and shouting a goodbye to her mother. Mystic watched as she joined the circle of curious Pokémon. "Oh, Candle…" the Delphox softly whispered to herself as she slowly turned and went back to finishing her tasks.

The Fennekin stopped just behind the gathering of Pokémon of many types, only seeing small glimpses of the one who was speaking to them. She could already hear the mysterious Pokémon telling the youth of an old tale. Curious to know the full summary of the story the adult was telling, she nudged a fellow bystander in her childish desperation. The Pokémon she prodded then turned around, revealing itself to be a Chimchar. "Hey…do you know who this storyteller is?" Candle asked with curiosity edged in every word. The Chimchar blinked and easily answered her question. "Oh, you mean the Ninetails? Yeah, she's a traveler who used to be in an exploration team, but after so many years, decided to retire and become a traveling storyteller. She's been at it ever since." The Chimchar explained.

"Oh…" Candle voiced in better understanding. After a small pause, she proposed another more obvious question. "So…what is she talking about?" The Chimchar, undoubtedly thrilled to answer her second question, began doing just that. "Well, it all began with an argument between two legendary creatures by the names of Arceus and Girintina. The two legendaries had opposing viewpoints on how Pokémon should live as on principles and such…"

The Fennekin wondered who exactly was these two Pokémon personally, and there roles in existence, but reluctantly kept her questions at bay. With her mind cleared from anymore possible distractions, she refocused back on the story being told.

"…Girintina, the Renegade Pokémon, purposed the idea that all Pokémon should be governed with peace through control, whilst Arceus, the Alpha Pokémon, disagreed with this ideology, believing that Pokémon should be empowered and have the ability of freewill as well as make decisions for themselves. He firmly believed that this would separate the right from the wrong, and Girintina, of course, disagreed. This eventually led to a ferocious battle that didn't last quite as long due to the Alpha Pokémon's obvious outlasting strength. After the world's momentary imbalance, and Girintina's defeat, he vowed to get revenge against him and the Pokémon world without any peace to follow. This being said, Arceus summoned a human from another dimension here on a quest to stop him and seal him away for good. After a hard and long journey, Girintina was eventually sealed into the Distortion World by the human, and peace bestowed upon our world once again."

The Chimchar finally finished, kneeling down to catch his breath after stating his words for the longest time. After recovering, the Chimchar's eyes poked back up to the Fennekin. "Well, how was that?" Candle only stood there, her eyes staring right into his, her mouth open wide. Noticing her overly-amazed expression, he replied, "Did I overdo the story?"

With that being said, Candle snapped out of her shocked state of mind, shaking her head back to reality. "W-whoa…I've never heard of any story like that!" the Fennekin said, her eyes filled with the glee of a child (which she still technically was). The Chimchar smiled in reply. Afterwards, he turned back towards the crowd of youth, his head turnt back slightly towards Candle to give a nod of appreciation. "It was nice meeting you!" Candle said, nearly shouting as the Chimchar gave her another smile and turned his attention back to the nearly finished storyteller. Candle gave a sigh, locking her eyes with the necklace that dangled around her neck. It was a crimson-red ruby diamond about the size of an Oran berry. It shimmered immensely when exposed to light, especially in the morning sun. When exposed by a light source, an orange tint of what looks like a flame can be seen inside of the spectacular gem.

Her expression of excitement turned into one of great sadness. "Father…I'll always have this to remember you by…and I swear by my life to find the one responsible for your death." She said to herself before taking her eyes off of her precious reminder.

It only took a few steps forward and away from the small crowd of Pokémon to effectively change her life. In only seconds, she found herself in the presence of three mischievous looking creatures. In just a second, she had already identified the three. On the left, was a Pinsir with its arms crossed. On the right was a Sneasal with three short claw marks along his left cheek. He was hesitant to look her in the eyes, choosing to stare to his left instead.

In the middle of the three was something that looked more frightening than the other two. In between the others stood a slightly taller Pokémon than the other two. It was dark purple in color with red eyes and a roundish body. It store down at her with menacing intent. She identified this one as a Gengar. "Why hello there, little girl. What cha got there?" the Gengar asked with a slightly teasing tonality.

Candle's eyes immediately snapped down to her necklace, the bright red spectacle still shining brightly in the array of light left by sun. "M-my father's pendant…he gave it to me before…" Candle told them, hesitating to finish her sentence. The Gengar stepped forward a bit, effectively startling the small Fennekin.

"Before what?" the Gengar asked in a dark, nonchalant manner. "Before…he died." Candle finished, tears threatening to descend from her eyes. The Gengar closed his eyes, his mischievous grin still present on his face. "Well isn't that saddening. Hey…I know what'll make you feel better." the Gengar said. His hand began to glow a deep, dark purple as he raised it.

Without any further warning, the Gengar motioned one finger up, causing the necklace to tremor, eventually raising upwards and from around her neck. Shocked at the event unfolding in front of her, she could only watch as a dark energy formed around the pendent necklace and floated straight toward the Gengar.

"A chase should get you in a good mood!" the Gengar said in a mocking tone, the necklace landing in the Ghost Pokémon's hand. With that, the Gengar turned around and swiftly floated away into the nearby forest, his two companions following close behind.

It took Candle a good four seconds to fully take in what had just happened. The shocked expression on her face then turned to one of anger as she ran in pursuit of the three thieves.

"Give it back!" Candle shouted as loud as she could, trying to hold back the coming tears that were on the brink of escaping her eyes. As they got farther and farther away from the fire fox, the Sneasal could do nothing but cringe at the Fennekin's desperate cries.


	4. Chapter 4: M-My Name is Arno!

Candle ran through the forest as fast as she possibly could, twigs snapping and leaves crunching under her feet a she sped after the three thieves. However, the pursuit for the three quickly turned into a search, for she could no longer accurately pinpoint any clues to where they may have fled.

"Dang it!" she cried aloud, exchanging the of mood of anger for that of tears. Rivers of water flowed from her eyes as her legs gave out on her, causing her to collapse onto the ground. She buried her face in her paws, the relentless sobbing doing nothing to halt the unfortunate reality of her current situation.

"Why? Why did this happen to me? W-what did I do wrong!?" Candle sobbed intensively. The troublemakers had stolen the only real thing that truly mattered to her, besides her mother. The necklace had been bestowed to her by her father, just days before his untimely demise.

She pounded the ground suddenly, regaining the purpose of her presence in the forest. "I have to get my necklace back!" she thought, attempting to get back on her feet. As she arose, her eyes moved from the ground to something quite interesting.

It was a greenish-looking creature with two long, white tusks protruding from out of it's mouth. "What is that?" Candle asked herself, slowly approaching the unknown Pokemon. With every step that the Fennekin took, the more clearer the type of Pokemon it was to her.

She was only a few feet away from it when her brain finally clicked. "Is that an Axew?" Candle shook her head as if to make sure her eyes weren't tricking her.

They surely weren't.

She walked in front of the Tusk Pokemon. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked in vain, the dinosaur-like creature not responding to her question of worry. The Fennekin's eyes widened as she noticed something standing out behind him.

The object she saw was easily discerned as a blueish sphere. It's teal color glimmered in one of the many spots of sunlight that made it through the tree' cover. Candle approached the mysterious orb. Unhurriedly, her left arm reached for the object to touch it.

Her arm was just inches away from the gleaming object, when she promptly felt a hand grab her by the wrist.

"Don't touch it!" the Tusk Pokemon shouted.

"Ahhh!" Candle screamed in response, falling backwards onto the earth. The Axew attempted to get up, falling twice in the process , but eventually regaining it's footing. The Tusk Pokemon wasted no time in covering the orb with it's body. Candle, slightly taken aback by the sudden actions of the Pokemon, gave a shout of anger.

"Hey, what was that for!"

The Axew, now feeling blameworthy, attempted to apologize for it's rash actions. With a sigh, it replied, "I'm sorry, I just really see this as important," It then pointed to the spherical artifact. "I got it from my mentor, Professor-" The Axew paused in realization of something.

"Wait, did you just talk?" the Tusk Pokemon asked in an almost nonchalant sort of way. The Firefox Pokemon quickly got up, dumbfounded by his commented question. "Of course I can talk! Are you insulting my intelligence?" the Fennekin snapped.

"No of course not! This is crazy. Only humans can talk like this, not Pokemon! What's going on?" the Axew said, panicking. The Fennekin tilted her head, her face taking on the look of one that was truly concerned. "Human? I've only heard of such in a story I recently heard. And by the way, if you haven't noticed, your a Pokemon too." Candle said almost humorously.

"Wait, what?" The Axew looked at it's hands again, and then it hit him. He was indeed a Pokemon! The Fennekin sighed, shaking her head in utter disbelief. "I really believe you must have bumped your head on something, cause your obviously a Pokemon."

The Fennekin walked up close to the Axew again. "I know your in sort of a 'daze' right now, but I could really use your help. Three mean Pokemon stole my necklace that was given to me by my father, and I must get it back!" Candle explained hastily.

I took awhile for the disorientated Tusk Pokemon to fully comprehend what was happening, but he accepted her plea for help nonetheless.

"Good, let's get going then!" Candle said, turning to run with the Axew not far behind her.

"Hey, by the way, my name's Candle, what's yours?" the Fennekin asked.

The Axew thought about it for a second, eventually answering.

"M-my name is Arno."


	5. Chapter 5: A Henious Plot Unfolds

All was quiet in the ominous cave, and without the many torches lighting the path through it, there would have been no light. But to this creature in particular, it wouldn't have mattered. The mysterious figure hovered forward through the cave, it's body trailing shadows behind it.

The creature kept moving deeper into the cave until it reached it's destination, a tall, throne-like chair made of stone. Sitting in it was a slightly taller figure seemingly made completely out darkness. The only light that came from it was the red of it's vermilion-colored eyes.

Two ghostly wings protruded out from behind it, red tips resembling claw extending out of them. The rather intimidating being rose it's head upwards slightly, acknowledging, if not already, the Shadow Pokemon's presence.

With a mighty echo, it spoke. "Do you have anything to address that is of any importance? If not, I have no intention of letting you leave here without proper punishment." the winged creature stated rather coldly. The Shadow Pokemon flinched at the creature's encoded threat, but replied without delay.

"Y-yes, I have some more news...I-it's-"

"OUT WITH IT!"

"Y-yes Sir! I succeeded in silencing the boy's progress in gathering the Temporial orbs..."

The shadowed creature eased on it's throne, his eyes still bearing down on it's servant. "Good..." The Shadow Pokemon below him nervously shifted in his position. "...But that's not it..."

Immediately, the creature on the throne stiffened. "What do you mean by this?" He stepped closer to the throned Pokemon as if it was an attempt to forcefully keep himself from fleeing. "I managed to send the human into this world through my Dark Void...but his Zoroark...she tried to save him from his fate, and ended up falling in along with him." the Shadow Pokemon said, struggling to make eye contact with his superior.

"You mean to tell me that not only have you succeeded in losing sight of the human, but you've also failed to eliminate his partner!?" the throned Pokemon roared, leaning forward in his chair. "N-not precisely!" the Shadow Pokemon stammered in his defense. "I know exactly where the human is! Not only that, but he's also transformed into a Pokemon! I believe he's now an Axew."

The shadowed creature blinked twice and then spoke once again. "I expect you to fix this issue. I feel my faith in you is starting to fade."

"Don't worry Lord Girintina, this time I'll get him, I-"

"-No." the throned creature, now revealed to be Girintina, interjected. "I have others who I will send to deal with them. I have another task for you. I'm sending you to Stygian Forest find a rather potential person to join our cause. He's a Sableye by the name of Ecari, and he leads a large group of Sableye that would all love to siege upon any opportunity to cause havoc. Convince Ecari to join our crusade and his followers will stalk right behind him without question." Girintina explained.

"Yes, my lord." the Shadow Pokemon said, bowing before his master and turning to leave. "And Darkrai..." His master's sudden voice startled him slightly. "This time, get it done right."

"Yes, my lord." the Shadow Pokemon said as he continued out of the cave. Girintina eased in his self-made throne, obsessively imagining his future reign over the Pokemon universe. "Soon, this world we be my domain...just a few more carefully placed pawns and my work will be complete...but I am no fool, I must be patient. Then when the time comes...I will strike."

The two Pokemon raced through the countless trees, trying to find the three robbers. "They have to be around here somewhere! There's just no way they made it so far!" Candle said aloud. As Arno gained his position next to the relatively hasty Fennekin, he couldn't help but ask the much needed question.

"Who are "they" exactly?" The Fennekin quickly jerked her head back towards the Axew, facing forwards again seconds after. "Well, the three thieves are a Pinsir, Sneasal, and a Gengar, who is presumably the leader." Candle informed, speeding up in her sprint.

"Oh, really?" Arno replied, still wondering what in the world caused him to be a Pokemon. It had took him almost a full ten seconds to remember his own name...or at least what he thought was his real name.

After a few minutes of relentless running, they had finally struck gold. The two now exhausted Pokemon stopped in front of a large gathering of bushes, panting frantically from the long dash. "Whew, man that was tiring!" Arno said almost out loud due to the state he was in.

Then suddenly, there was a group of voices that sounded not far from there position. "Shh! Arno, listen." Candle whispered. As Candle and Arno peaked through the bushes in front of them, the Fennekin's eyes widened. "Is that them?' Arno asked. "Yep, that's definitely them." she replied.

The two stealthy listened to the conversation of the three Pokemon. "Are you sure about this guys? Maybe we should think about this one...that Fennekin looked pretty grief-stricken about this necklace..." the Sneasal said, his voice slightly filled with regret.

"Oh, come on, just worrying to much. Let's just clear this cave, she'll never follow us through here. Hehe!" the Gengar said, the wide grin from the time of of their thievery still pastured on his face. The Gengar entered the cave, his actions beckoning the other two to follow him.

As the Pinsir stepped forward into the cave, he turned towards the Sneasal. "Don't be such a wimp, okay? Now let's go!" the Pinsir yelled, effectively causing him to flinch. The Pinsir stared at him intimidatingly before turning to enter the cave after the Gengar. The Sneasal's eyes gazed at the ground for a short time, and turned to the cave's entrance.

But just before he entered, he turned abruptly towards the forest, his viewpoint to where the Fennekin and Axew where hiding. His sudden course of alertness caused them both to swiftly bring their heads from the bushes. The Sneasal then turned back slowly and rushed inside of the cave. Luckily, they had not been spotted.

After they were sure all three were gone, the two let out a breath of relaxation. "Man, that was really close!' Arno said, still glad that their covered wasn't blown. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, only to reopen them and find Candle gone.

"Hey, wait for me!' Immediately, Arno began running after the Fennekin, stopping at the entrance of the cave like she had. Arno began studying the look of it more closely, vines entangled around everywhere and leaves littering the floor like snow.

"Well, aren't ya coming?" Candle asked hurriedly as she brushed past him lightly. "Y-yeah, of course!" Arno replied, hesitant at first but took his first steps inside of the overgrown cave.


	6. Chapter 6: Newbies

**Flourishing Cave, Floor 1**

As Candle and Arno walked deeper into the cave, it grew even more dense and jungly, and the vines once simply criss-crossed and tangled across the cave walls were now making towers. With this realization, the two also noticed something else.

The cave grew bigger in size, and even wider in length. The lush, trailing plants now touched the cave ceiling, as if they were the reason it hadn't collapsed on them all this time. "Uhh, excuse me Candle? Where exactly are we? Arno inquired troubledly.

The Fennekin just smiled with what seemed like confidence. "Why were in the Flourishing Cave, of course! I read about it with...' Candle replied, abruptly stopping her verbal clarification. The silence immediately worried Arno, noticing the good cheer dissipate from her eyes.

What's wrong, Candle? Did I-"

"No. It's alright Arno, I was just reminded of something long ago...but that's not important, ewe need to keep moving!" Candle said, the glee returning to her posture again. Within a blink of an eye, she had already been a full sprint ahead of him. Rather than dwell on the dodged topic, Arno copied the Fennekin's actions and made off right behind her.

**Floor 2**

As the two kept running through the cave, Arno quickly stopped, causing Candle to do the same. "Why did you stop? Aren't you going to help me get back my necklace?" she asked, a bit puzzled as to why he had paused. After a few episodes of hyperventilation, he responded back to address concern of his own.

"Yeah, definitely...but where exactly are we heading? This cave is huge, and we haven't seen another floor in a-" Arno suddenly put his words on hold as he spotted three figures moving towards them. The two immediately grew cautious as the trio of silhouettes grew closer.

Upon the identification of the three, Arno and Candle eased their edginess and calmed themselves. The three were revealed to as a Nuzleaf, a Lileep, and a Cacnea.

"Crap, I thought it was those thieves...false alarm, right?" Arno laughed. Candle laughed with him.

Then, without hesitation, the Fennekin casually walked up to three, wearing a smile laced with traces of hope. "Hello there! I was just wondering if any of you spotted a trine of Pokemon in possession of a necklace? They stole it from me while I was in my hometown..It has a jewel of the color ruby, and..."

Candle went on about her necklace for a good ten seconds, all the while giving Arno time to ponder on something that Candle had said. "

"Trine? what the heck does that mean?"

After giving the three grass-types a rather extremely detailed explanation about her situation, she finally ended it with a simple question. "So, have you guys seen them?" A great pause ensued between the five before the Pokemon middlemost of the three grass-types, the Nuzleaf, finally spoke.

"...You shouldn't be here."

Arno immediately caught on to their intentions, while Candle still stood unwary. "What do you mean? I can take care of myself just fine." Candle stated boldly, a growing look of confusion fixed on her face. The Nuzleaf replied with a twisted, fiendish grin, his eyes bearing down on them like daggers.

H_ow could she not get the message? These three are obviously not friendly! _Arno thought, his guard now to a maximum one hundred percent.

Then, on spur of the moment, the Nuzleaf raised it's hands and the space above it radiated a dazzling glow. While Candle's eyes widened with amazement, Arno only grew even more tense. With a snap of it's finger, the white glow above them separated into scores of luminous shapes, quickly fading it's glowing shell to reveal themselves to be floating, razor-sharp leaves.

"Whoa! what kind of trick is th-Ouff!" Before the sharp leaves reached Candle, Arno pushed her out of harms way. The two skidded across the mossy floor, stopping just before hitting the wall.

As the two got back up, Candle cuffed Arno on the back of the head. "What was that for Arno!?" she said, raising her voice. Arno said nothing, choosing to simply point at the reason why. Candle's eyes followed to where his finger pronged, and her eyes widened in amazement, only this time, it was out of realization. Where they had been only seconds before was completely brimmed with leaves, their tips embedded into the green terrain.

"W-wait..." Candle mumbled. "W t-that...Razor Leaf?" Candle asked to no one in particular.

"Actually, that was Nature Power." the voice said. The Fennekin and Axew looked back towards the three, the Nuzleaf being the source of the remark. "Now we'll show you what were really capable of." it said, motioning it's head in a sideways nod. "Cacnea, Lileep...deal with them."

Without any hesitation, the two Pokemon slowly stepped forward, menacing smirks present on their faces. "Candle, we need to fight them off!" Arno told her as he got into a defensive position. Almost instantly, Candle's legs began to tremble.

"What's wrong?" Arno asked, his eyes back on the two approaching Pokemon. "W-well..." Candle stuttered.

"I don't know how...'

Arno looked back at the Fennekin next to him, his eyes filled with empathy. "Yeah, neither do I...but what other choice do we have?" As Candle thought about this, Arno's eyes shot back towards the two extremely close Pokemon. "Candle? Now would be a good time to at least **try** and-OWW!"

Arno's words cut short by a swift hit to the head. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Arno exclaimed, grabbing his head. "That was called 'Pound', now here's one I like to call...pain." the Cacnea said in a cool tone. And that was exactly what chilled Arno and Candle straight down to the bone.

"Hey, I'm next!' the Lileep interrupted, bringing his face close to the Cacnea.

"Says who?"

"Says me!"

The Nuzleaf's only reply to his two trouble-making partners was a face palm. But the frustration and anger of the three mischief-makers would never compare to how mad Candle was starting to grow. Without a second thought, the Fennekin marched up to the three arguing Pokemon.

"HEY!" The three grass-types stopped their bickering, all attention now on Candle. "I don't think I made myself clear when I asked about my necklace." Candle said with a sharp edge in her voice. "Oh really? And what if I did know?" the Nuzleaf laughed darkly, the other two joining in.

"Ya know, I just might have run into those your pursuing, but what makes you think I would ever tell the likes of y-ARGGH!" In a flash, the Fennekin had it's sharp teeth clamped down on the Wily Pokemon's arm. The Nuzleaf shook and waved his right arm in a furious attempt to release her grip. "G-get of me you dog!" the Nuzleaf screamed, launching his arm forward powerfully, catapulting the Fox Pokemon into the air and finally crashing into the ground, landing on her stomach.

"Candle!" Arno shouted, unable to do anything but run to her. "That's what you get for being a hero!" the Nuzleaf quipped, moving his injured arm sorely. Then the Lileep turned to face his boss. "Um, hey...isn't it a bad idea to pick a fight with the Fox Pokemon? I mean...she is a fire-" The Lileep paused as he and his gang saw the Fennekin's body begin to glow a bright red, causing them to wonder in confusion.

"Is she evolving?" the Cacnea asked, his body now a living rattle. Candle proceeded to slowly stand on her two feet, her body still turned away from theirs, face hidden from sight. Filled to the brim with an equal mix of concern and fear, Arno could only manage to utter one thing. "C-Candle?"

Without further delay, she turned around and slowly made her way towards the Nuzleaf and his two companions, wavering slightly in her steps. "Oh Arceus, she's gonna kill us!" the Cacnea shrieked. The three grass-types Pokemon stepped back as she neared even closer to them, her eyes still sealed shut.

The tension of the event unfolding before them was sending the Nuzleaf over the edge, causing him to attack out of panic. "Oh crap! Uh...Razor Leaf!" the Nuzleaf shouted as he jumped into the air, the leaf on his head glowing ivory white. Without a second to waste, the Pokemon swung his head downwards, causing the leaf on his head to release a barrage of jagged-edged leaves at the Fennekin.

The executed move had hit her head on, accumulating a sizable cloud of dust taking her from their view.

Arno's eyes widened in disbelief.

"No! Candle!"


	7. Chapter 7: Don't Play With Fire

Arno watched in horror as the dust that had enveloped Candle began to slowly dissipate and clear, It was only when he saw her silhouette appear from the subsiding dust cloud did he regain his positive composure. "Candle, Your okay!" Arno shouted in delight, running to her aid.

Before he could reach her, a ferocious fire engulfed the fire-Fox Pokemon. "Aah! What?" Arno exclaimed, the heat's flare causing the Axew to flinch and stumble backwards. The three grass-type Pokemon began tremoring with outright fear, and the Cacnea could only manage to mutter out one single phrase.

"Saw this one coming."

In an act of major dismay, the Nuzleaf jumped high into the air, readying another Razor Leaf attack. "Cacnea, Lileep! Attack, full power!" the Nuzleaf screamed as he launched his attack first. The Lileep and Cacnea followed suit in executing his command, Cacnea's Pin Missle and Lileep's Brine heading towards Candle's protective armor of fire.

The results were rather disappointing. The attacks didn't even come close to making contact with her fire shield, as they all simply caught fire and evaporated. Candle could easily be seen inside of the fiery ball, and without warning, her eyes suddenly shot open.

Her eyes were a fiery red and her face looked nothing close to friendly.

"RRRAAAGHHH!" Candle raged, her maw opening wide with a huge stream of fire emerging from it to accompany her battle cry. The course of emensive flames rapidly approached the three grass-types without giving them much time to react.

"Not-go-" The Nuzleaf never got the chance to finish it's sentence, as the fire attack had already impacted them. The Nuzleaf, Cacnea, and Lileep were all consumed inside of the flames; the strange part was that the attack didn't subside, in fact, the fire that surged around them grew even more immense in size.

Arno watched in disbelief as the vortex of flames filled the three troublemakers with agonizing pain, their screams forever embedding themselves in the deep crevices of his mind. Tears traveled down from Arno's eyes as he screamed from Candle to stop.

"Candle, please! They don't deserve this kind of punishment!" Sadly, Arno's pleas fell on deaf ears as she approached the three Pokemon, who were still suspended in the air inside the vortex. Arno couldn't take it anymore. Without a second thought, he ran to Candle once again, and to his surprise, through the shield of fire that surrounded her.

The flames that now surrounded Arno slowly began to take a toll on him, his hug-like grip he had around Candle slowly growing weaker. Before Arno had slipped into the ironically cold embrace of unconsciousness, the ball of fire that had swirled around him and the Fennekin slowly began to cease, leaving only a few embers to linger and burn out in the air.

The bright red glow in Candle's eyes quickly faded away as she fell limp in Arno's arms.

"Candle..." he said silently, the fire vortex that had spun around the other three now unconscious Pokemon fading away completely.

It had been seven long minutes before Candle regained her senses of consciousness. The human-turned Axew felt her stir within his protective grasp, immediately alerting him back out of his daydreams. "Ugh...w-what happened?' Candle asked, trying her best to get up.

She eventually quit all together, finding it an extremely difficult task to complete. That's when she noticed she was in the grasp of her companion, Arno.

She immediately blushed at this realization and somehow found the strength to rise onto her four paws. Still blushing slightly, she asked Arno directly.

"Do you know what happened?"

The Axew looked at her with a very surprised expression before replying. "You mean you really don't remember anything that happened? Not one thing?" "No...I mean kinda...all I can recall is when that Nuzleaf threw me across the cave, and I hit the ground really hard..."

The Fennekin seemed to suddenly have another question to purpose. "Say where are those troublemakers anyway?" she asked, stretching her arms and legs. Much like he did earlier, the Axew simply pointed towards the area where the three troubling grass-types lay.

"Oh...did I do-" Before Candle could finish, Arno was already at her side. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he walked forwards, moving the confused and slightly wobbly Fennekin towards the next staircase.

"I'll explain everything along the way." Arno said, closing his eyes and smiling.

Unbeknownst to them, a shadowy figure with one eye was watching them from inside of the cave's walls. Being a ghost, hiding was no hard task for it.

"Interesting...I'll need to study these two further..."

And in almost a flash, the ghost vanished into thin air, and was gone.


End file.
